1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a bib for an infant and, more particularly, to a bib with a teething material integral thereto.
2. Background Art
Infant bibs have been known in the art for many years. In particular, many of these bibs have had various articles, such as toys, playthings or pacifiers, directly attached by a tether, loop or stitching. Attaching these articles directly to the bib provides an infant with easy access to these articles, while preventing the articles from becoming easily lost.
Yet other bibs have included teething material attached directly thereto. For instance, Kamrath, U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,510 discloses a bib with a teething material attached to the bottom of the bib on both the front and back sides. The teething material may be molded, sewn, or snapped onto the bottom of the bib.
While Kamrath provided an advantage by integrating teething material directly into the bib, teething material is typically heavier than the remainder of a cloth bib. As a result, a large piece of rubber attached to and covering a substantial portion of the bottom of a bib is heavy and provides additional strain when the bib is placed around an infant's neck. Moreover, such a design provides teething material in essentially only one location, at the bottom of the bib, thus leaving the remaining sides of the bib susceptible to biting, sucking or chewing by the infant and potential fraying and/or eroding of the bib. Bib fraying or eroding, in turn, may lead to ingestion of portions of the bib by the infant.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a bib having teething material integrated thereto which more evenly distributes the weight of the teething material over the entirety of the bib. Moreover, there also remains a need for a bib with teething material distributed over a larger portion of the outer periphery of the bib to permit infant access to the teething material at virtually any accessible point on the outside of the bib. Finally, it is desirable to provide a teether bib that may be folded up to form a pocket for catching crumbs and other food, while also facilitating the teething process.